The Best Hair Care Products for Naturally Gray Hair

When your hair goes gray, it becomes more rigid—"wiry" is the word they throw around—and it’s at a greater risk of looking dull. Fight back with the best haircare products for gray hair. It's wiry because it’s changing on a microscopic level: “Gray hair is incredibly porous and dry,” says celebrity stylist KC Fee. She adds that everyday habits you once ignored suddenly pose a risk to your now-gray hair’s health: “Over styling and sun exposure can turn the silver hair to yellow,” in addition to further drying it out. So, while it’s at risk of looking jaundiced, it’s also stubborn and unstylable.

Fee says that your hair care and styling routine should focus on two key aspects: First, using a specialized gray/silver hair shampoo at least once a week (sometimes it’s also called purple shampoo because of its color.) There’s no need to shampoo too much, since it’ll strip the hair of its needed moisture—you can use a similarly silver-marketed conditioner, however. This combination will prevent discoloration, and the conditioner will help soften everything.

Her second suggestion also helps to nourish and soften the hairs: Use styling products with argan oil, or mix a couple drops of argan with your usual daily styler. This should keep the hair from getting too brittle, and will give it an enhanced shine that makes you look like a silver fox, not a malnourished wolf. (Is that the opposite of a silver fox?)

Anyway. Here are a few products to consider for your gray-hair regimen.

Oribe hair oil

This is Fee’s favorite styling product to recommend for gray hair, since it has a high percentage of argan oil, which helps shield the hair from UV damage while also reducing frizz, softening strands, and adding a pinch of silver-enhancing shine. It’s also loaded with other oils, like jasmine and cassis seed, as well as shea butter, vitamin E, and extracts of sandalwood, cork tree bark, and barley. These ingredients nourish hair all the way to the root, while also preventing split ends.

V76 brightening conditioner

Sunflower seed extract in V76’s conditioner prevents discoloration from oxidation, while sage leaf extract fortifies both hair and scalp. Pair it with the brand’s coconut oil-packed shampoo that helps preserve the hair’s lustre. (It’s also great for white and blonde hair, in addition to gray and silver.)

Jack Black hair oil

Jack Black’s MP10 oil will forever be one of my favorite hair products—both as a lightweight styler and as a conditioning agent. The product’s name comes from the 10 nourishing oils used in the blend. Argan is at the top of the roster, of course, followed by oils from seeds of moringa, marula, watermelon, plum, baobab, and grape, as well as oils of olive fruit, jojoba, and rice bran. Together, they hydrate, soften, condition, and protect the hair from damaging and discoloring elements.

Sachajuan purple shampoo

The purple tones in this shampoo count the dulling, drying, and discoloring effects of sunlight, heat, and styling products. It pours a UV-shield over your hair and conditions it at the same time, preserving its volume as well as its stylability.

True Sons subtle hair dye

This hair dye is a curveball for the list, but rounds out the lineup because it’s not a full dye. It’s a subtle one, best used as you start going gray. It doesn’t totally dye your hair, and instead adds your color back steadily with each application, while also preserving some of the silvers. This way, you don’t have to hide that fact that you’re graying, but can steadily get comfortable. (And it works on your beard and body hair, too, if that’s what you’re after.) It’s best used with some of the above shampoos, conditioners, and oils, which will doubly protect the dye color and protect the silvers from dehydration and yellow discoloration.